On the 9th of November a group of 20 film makers and extras set off for this year's film shoot. This is the third year of the film studies module and the 6th film to be made by our very talented film makers. After weeks of planning, brainstorming, story boarding, testing, script rewrites, location scouting and dress rehearsals, this year's Film studies group were fired up and ready to go. It was a go for lights, cameras and action!!! 

The location scouted by Sami Flannery 4A was a fantastic choice. Longueville House Hotel is a picture perfect hotel. It is a country house dating from 1720. This is a family-run hotel on the Blackwater Valley estate. Aisling O’ Callaghan, the proprietor, allowed our students full access to the hotel and grounds. She truly rolled out the red carpet for PBC, which the boys really appreciated, especially the food and drinks provided by Aisling and her team! 

The day was to say the least, an intense day of filming, with two crews shooting on the grounds and in the interior of the hotel. There was some outstanding acting and directing throughout the day and even some students from last year's film studies module made a cameo or two.  

The group are currently hard at work in post-production, editing the footage from the day and look forward to entering it in both the First Cut and Fresh Cut Film Festival's in early 2024. 

A huge thanks to all involved

Mr. Casey 

We are delighted to announce that Pres has been named Munster Rugby School of the Year for 2023.

This is a great honour for our school and is deserved recognition for the many successes of our rugby teams at all levels last season in getting to every major final, winning the Mc Carthy Cup, and perhaps most importantly, the Senior and Junior Cup double for the first time since 2007.

Huge appreciation to all our teachers, coaches, players, school management, ancillary staff, student body, parents and sponsors for their unique contributions to this long overdue success.

Our class wanted to do something to create awareness around bullying for this year’s "No To Bullying Week".   

  We were inspired by the ‘Black Eyed Peas’ song ‘Where is the love’ as this song is about everyone’s entitlement to be happy and to be themselves.

We used the song title to make a statement, each class member drawing a letter and a No To Bullying sign and we constructed a display in our school social area. 

CLASS 2/B

The excitement was palpable as Transition Year students in Chemistry and Physics dazzled the audience with their captivating science projects! From chemical reactions to the wonders of physics, our TY students showcased their ingenuity and knowledge, presenting to an eager crowd of first-year students. The energy in the room was electric as the first year students were thoroughly engaged and genuinely enjoyed learning from their older peers' experiments and discoveries.

Last week, we celebrated our inaugural Stand Up Awareness Week. This week, introduced by the BelongTo organisation, aims to recognise and celebrate the diverse school community we have here in Pres. Many of our students put their literary and artistic skills to use by making vibrant and meaningful posters that filled the social areas of the school. These posters highlighted the importance of standing up as well as what it means to belong in Pres. Students could also visit our library to engage with various books about diverse characters and written by people from the LGBTQ+ community.

This marked the first year where we celebrated Stand Up Awareness Week and it was a great success, which we hope to build on in the future. As our school continues to grow into a diverse and wonderful community, we are committed to recognizing this week year on year. We want our school to be a safe, special and happy place for all of our students. Let’s look forward to Stand Up Week 2024!

Movember is an international campaign to raise awareness and funds for cancer research amongst men – specifically prostate and testicular cancers, and mental health.

Now in its twelfth year in Pres, this year’s campaign is once again normalizing conversations around the topic, raising much needed funds and proving very popular amongst students and staff alike. As in previous years, our campaign for 2023 consists of an art initiative to raise awareness throughout the school, a fundraising competition between all class groups, and teachers and senior students cultivating Mo’s and garnering sponsorship during the month.

In a collaboration with the Mercy Hospital, we will once again welcome Consultant Oncologist, Dr Derek Power, to speak to our senior students about his work, the prevalence of men’s cancers and the preventative measures that our young men can take to protect themselves. In addition, this year we are encouraging senior students to take before and after selfies to be displayed on the social area screens in the school. All funds raised go directly towards cancer research locally through the Mercy Foundation and all donations will be gratefully received.

Grow a Mo, save a bro!  

Transition year students immersed themselves in a dynamic forensic chemistry workshop, navigating through ballistics, gun-shot residue analysis, photographic scrutiny, fingerprint examination, and autopsy simulations. These activities intricately linked history with modern forensic theories, testing their analytical and critical thinking skills while unveiling the captivating world of forensic science.

Senior Biology and Agricultural Science students were delighted to welcome our past pupil John Fehily, who gave the Science Week Lecture this year.  John spoke of his experience in UCC, where he graduated with a BSC and a MRes in Genetics. He is currently pursuing a PhD in UCD, where he is using gene malipulation of Zebra fish as a model to better understand night blindness in humans.  A huge thank you to John for taking the time to share his experience with the students and we wish him all the best in his studies.

Our TY Biology students visited the School of Biochemistry and Cell Biology on Tuesday for a full day DNA Workshop. The timing of this opportunity was fantastic as it ran alongside National Science Week and this was one of the many activities and events occurring in our school to celebrate it. 

Students were introduced to key concepts surrounding DNA in a lecture provided by Dr. Sinead Kerins during the morning session. This was then followed by a range of practical work which focused on utilising different laboratory equipment used in DNA analysis of both peas, kiwis, and their own DNA. 

Students also did DNA profiling using electrophoresis techniques which are beyond the capabilities of a school lab. By using this technique, we investigated the genetic disease - sickle cell anaemia in a variety of individuals which took their understanding to a whole new level beyond the leaving cert course. 

Thanks to Ms Lynch for organising the event!